If you should feel guilt over bad behavior by your ancestors, that's more a tell that you're kind of on board with that bad behavior and feel bad when it's rightfully criticized.
See the Lost Cause Myth for an entire industry based on this impulse. No, no, no, I'm not pro slavery, just pro slavers, why are you making me feel bad?
Never felt guilt for being white, but I actually acknowledge the shit white people have and are doing.
I sometimes wonder how much if this crap is from cognitive dissonance when told about what shitty white people did they feel like they are being made to feel guilty because they identify more with the past shitty white people.
Basically, they are shitty white people.
Personally, I've gotten wah more shit from these kinds of people for being queer thab from anyone for being white.
I sometimes wonder how much if this crap is from cognitive dissonance when told about what shitty white people did they feel like they are being made to feel guilty because they identify more with the past shitty white people.
Basically, they are shitty white people.
That's exactly it. They identify positively with the shitty people of the past so when we attack those shitty people of the past for doing shitty things, the modern conservative takes it as a personal attack because to them it genuinely is a personal attack because they are exactly the same as the shitty white people from the past and they know it.
I've never felt guilty about the shitty things that white people have done in the past because I'm not like those people, I don't identify with them, and I'm not like modern conservatives so I don't feel shitty or angry or insulted when Hillary Clinton called the Alt-Reich losers "Deplorables". Every single person that saw that comment and self-identified as a Deplorable is in fact one of those Deplorables that she was talking about because if they weren't they wouldn't have immediately identified as Deplorable. All of the Neo-Nazis, KKK, unaffiliated racists and misogynists and anti-semitic scumbags can't help but tell on themselves the fucking instant someone says something negative about Neo-Nazis, the KKK, and affiliated racist and misogynists and anti-Semitic scumbags. It's like what was a month or two ago someone posted a little text graphic that they made on Twitter and/or Facebook that simply said "Nazis are bad" and then immediately thousands of people respond with anger and rage. "Why are you calling us Nazis? Oh yeah you hate Republicans so much that you just call us all Nazis! You just hate White Christians and hate America!" Then someone else or maybe the same person did the same thing a few days later with one that said "Ephebophilia is still pedophilia" and all the same fucking people jumped in with the same thing "Oh sure call us all pedophiles! You're just attacking Donald Trump because you hate White Christians and you hate America!"
It is a difficult thing, and there are genuinely difficult questions related to this concept. It's a complex topic. Basically every European country, even the ones that never colonized anyone and who historically have been imperial subjects, have directly or indirectly benefited from colonialism - and continue to benefit to this day.
But even then, it's not clear what that should mean. Because for most of us, the only thing we're actually guilty of as such is being born in a specific place, into a particular system, and living in it. While also being relatively powerless to do anything about it.
Then, on the other hand, I doubt most of the people who complain about "white guilt" have put that much thought into it.
Young white woman from TX here. I remember meeting Confederate lost causers IRL in my hometown when I was like 8. I remember walking up to one and asking, "But they were the Bad Guys! Why did you want them to win? Slavery hurt a lot of people real bad!" They tried to bluster and spin some stuff about states' rights and economic circumstances and other such nonsense. They kept saying I was guilted into having those beliefs on the civil war. I (in my little justice sensitive autistic way) just kept asking over and over, "But what about the people they hurt?" They gave up on me and started trying this bs on other kids at this public mall instead.
I'm nearly 30 now and I stand by that response to their white supremacist recruitment tactics. I've taught it to every kid I know.
The literal only people who have ever framed it as such in my entire life are butthurt low IQ conservative crybabies looking for an excuse to feel persecuted, and I literally went to a hippie college for polsci where all we did all day every fucking day was unpack privilege and intersectionality. As with 99% of conservative butthurt it's a figment of their imagination designed to keep them riled up and mad.
These folks didn't write history, and they didn't read it either. They just assumed there's no way to explain slavery without blaming all white folks because they're racists. The idea of being a white guy who knows that John Brown did nothing wrong never occurs to them.
My ancestors were literally slave owners, and I have never and have never been made to feel guilty by anyone or anything. These people believe that simply acknowledging the past is cause for guilt because so much of their pride is invested in their ancestry (because they're racists and can't find anything else to be proud about).
You don't have to feel guilty if you acknowledge the past and the effects of that past on the modern day and commit to avoiding a repeat of that situation and to do your best to make things more equitable for everyone.
You have to watch Fox News to be told that. They are told several times a day that slavery is taught in school to make white kids hate their heritage...meanwhile they defend the displaying of the confederate flag.
To them, there's no such thing as white privilege because they have to work for a living too..at the family business and have to take care of the family land.
White people were to blame for a lot of shit and still are. I'm a white person, but not one of them, I feel no guilt, but nor do I deny what has happened and how it has been greatly advantageous for my life. Acknowledging the past is the only way to improve the future. It's not about guilt, it's about truth.
Elon Musk is a piece of fucking shit who should feel so guilty about all the awful things he's done, but he doesn't have the fucking sense to even contemplate it. The most thintelligent mutherfucker in the world.
That’s my favorite part of the post. The first person is saying “history they didn’t write”. Which is true—even though indirect benefits persist over the years, they didn’t personally enslave people, they didn’t set up the systems, etc. (They’re voting for those systems, but we’ll let that slide for now.)
More culture war bullshit. The problem isn’t that these MAGA kids aren’t feeling guilty, it’s that they are using this false narrative to justify actual racism.
This is the correct way to think. I recognize that I’ve benefitted from generational wealth that may not have been available to me if I weren’t white; that doesn’t mean I did anything wrong or that I should feel bad about myself for something I didn’t choose
they want everyone to respect their HERITAGE, which they don't even take accountability for, but act like they shouldn't have to even CONSIDER their ancestor's past and learn from the mistakes of the past. absolutely braindead group of idjuts
But they are the problem. Not as individuals. But as a social group who holds the majority of the power. Of whom the majority, even if not actively causing harm, allows the space for those who do enact harm to enact the harm.
If 5% of white men are bad, it only takes non action from the majority if the remainder for these select few to topple and harm and do horrible things to maintain power and control.
The only people who get offended by this concept are genuine racists who don't like the blowback from being racist. It has nothing to do with being white and everything to do with their rejection of non whites.
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Guilt is fucking pointless unless it leads to looking at the systemic issues and then trying to, you know, fix them.
But that is hard for them coz, you know, "What's in it for me (a white person) because I've got my privilege that I did nothing to earn/deserve and really shouldn't be forced to give that up. I feel so persecuted".
The kind of people who aren’t ashamed of what they ancestors did are the sort who would absolutely jump at the chance to do it themselves if they got it. Either right now or through hypothetical time travel.
I'm a white man(formerly young) and I have never been told it's my, or the white race's fault.
Same.
If you should feel guilt over bad behavior by your ancestors, that's more a tell that you're kind of on board with that bad behavior and feel bad when it's rightfully criticized.
See the Lost Cause Myth for an entire industry based on this impulse. No, no, no, I'm not pro slavery, just pro slavers, why are you making me feel bad?
Me either.
Also, most young white women fucking despise MAGA, Trump, and Elon.
I don’t have to worry about money anymore.
Because I’ve learned if I was the richest person on earth, my life wouldn’t change.
I’d just be here shitposting, getting high all day and tryin’ to get laid. Just like those d-bags.
Never felt guilt for being white, but I actually acknowledge the shit white people have and are doing.
I sometimes wonder how much if this crap is from cognitive dissonance when told about what shitty white people did they feel like they are being made to feel guilty because they identify more with the past shitty white people.
Basically, they are shitty white people.
Personally, I've gotten wah more shit from these kinds of people for being queer thab from anyone for being white.
That's exactly it. They identify positively with the shitty people of the past so when we attack those shitty people of the past for doing shitty things, the modern conservative takes it as a personal attack because to them it genuinely is a personal attack because they are exactly the same as the shitty white people from the past and they know it.
I've never felt guilty about the shitty things that white people have done in the past because I'm not like those people, I don't identify with them, and I'm not like modern conservatives so I don't feel shitty or angry or insulted when Hillary Clinton called the Alt-Reich losers "Deplorables". Every single person that saw that comment and self-identified as a Deplorable is in fact one of those Deplorables that she was talking about because if they weren't they wouldn't have immediately identified as Deplorable. All of the Neo-Nazis, KKK, unaffiliated racists and misogynists and anti-semitic scumbags can't help but tell on themselves the fucking instant someone says something negative about Neo-Nazis, the KKK, and affiliated racist and misogynists and anti-Semitic scumbags. It's like what was a month or two ago someone posted a little text graphic that they made on Twitter and/or Facebook that simply said "Nazis are bad" and then immediately thousands of people respond with anger and rage. "Why are you calling us Nazis? Oh yeah you hate Republicans so much that you just call us all Nazis! You just hate White Christians and hate America!" Then someone else or maybe the same person did the same thing a few days later with one that said "Ephebophilia is still pedophilia" and all the same fucking people jumped in with the same thing "Oh sure call us all pedophiles! You're just attacking Donald Trump because you hate White Christians and you hate America!"
Every. Fucking. Time. They can't help themselves.
It is a difficult thing, and there are genuinely difficult questions related to this concept. It's a complex topic. Basically every European country, even the ones that never colonized anyone and who historically have been imperial subjects, have directly or indirectly benefited from colonialism - and continue to benefit to this day.
But even then, it's not clear what that should mean. Because for most of us, the only thing we're actually guilty of as such is being born in a specific place, into a particular system, and living in it. While also being relatively powerless to do anything about it.
Then, on the other hand, I doubt most of the people who complain about "white guilt" have put that much thought into it.
Young white woman from TX here. I remember meeting Confederate lost causers IRL in my hometown when I was like 8. I remember walking up to one and asking, "But they were the Bad Guys! Why did you want them to win? Slavery hurt a lot of people real bad!" They tried to bluster and spin some stuff about states' rights and economic circumstances and other such nonsense. They kept saying I was guilted into having those beliefs on the civil war. I (in my little justice sensitive autistic way) just kept asking over and over, "But what about the people they hurt?" They gave up on me and started trying this bs on other kids at this public mall instead.
I'm nearly 30 now and I stand by that response to their white supremacist recruitment tactics. I've taught it to every kid I know.
The only people mentioning white guilt are the far right conservatives, and it's because deep down they feel this guilt and hate it.
The literal only people who have ever framed it as such in my entire life are butthurt low IQ conservative crybabies looking for an excuse to feel persecuted, and I literally went to a hippie college for polsci where all we did all day every fucking day was unpack privilege and intersectionality. As with 99% of conservative butthurt it's a figment of their imagination designed to keep them riled up and mad.
Most white guilt I have is from recognizing bad shit I've done, and how I've perpetuated bad systems.
It's important to remember that, for every injustice they claim we all get blamed for, there were white dudes who fought against it on the good side
When you feel bad because someone is talking about fucked up shit white dudes in the past did, you're choosing to identify with the villains
Oh, I have! I was told that by people trying to insist that we shouldn't be told that.
Me neither. That’s because the only people being told they are a problem are the ones causing problems.
my minor was history
my major was environmental history
at a really good school
never heard that shit once, and my internal reaction was never that, it was always wow, what a bunch of selfish assholes
These folks didn't write history, and they didn't read it either. They just assumed there's no way to explain slavery without blaming all white folks because they're racists. The idea of being a white guy who knows that John Brown did nothing wrong never occurs to them.
My ancestors were literally slave owners, and I have never and have never been made to feel guilty by anyone or anything. These people believe that simply acknowledging the past is cause for guilt because so much of their pride is invested in their ancestry (because they're racists and can't find anything else to be proud about).
You don't have to feel guilty if you acknowledge the past and the effects of that past on the modern day and commit to avoiding a repeat of that situation and to do your best to make things more equitable for everyone.
You have to watch Fox News to be told that. They are told several times a day that slavery is taught in school to make white kids hate their heritage...meanwhile they defend the displaying of the confederate flag.
To them, there's no such thing as white privilege because they have to work for a living too..at the family business and have to take care of the family land.
As a white ppl I can say that the only white ppl concerned with "white guilt" are racists.
Wait, somebody remind me when mr "Mario Nawfal" was appointed the formal spokesperson for Gen Z?
White Gen Z to be specific, with an Arabic last name too lmfao
White people were to blame for a lot of shit and still are. I'm a white person, but not one of them, I feel no guilt, but nor do I deny what has happened and how it has been greatly advantageous for my life. Acknowledging the past is the only way to improve the future. It's not about guilt, it's about truth.
Elon Musk is a piece of fucking shit who should feel so guilty about all the awful things he's done, but he doesn't have the fucking sense to even contemplate it. The most thintelligent mutherfucker in the world.
Okay. Nobody said you should feel guilty. Just that you should at least understand the foundation the us is built on.
Guy who would be a complete nobody if he has not been a beneficiary of apartheid: "No more white guilt!"
That’s my favorite part of the post. The first person is saying “history they didn’t write”. Which is true—even though indirect benefits persist over the years, they didn’t personally enslave people, they didn’t set up the systems, etc. (They’re voting for those systems, but we’ll let that slide for now.)
But Elon Musk? He wrote the damn history.
It truly shows how wretched he is
More culture war bullshit. The problem isn’t that these MAGA kids aren’t feeling guilty, it’s that they are using this false narrative to justify actual racism.
Fucking snowflakes.
Upsetting dimwits with this kind of garbage is way too easy. It’s like chucking a fire cracker into a chicken coop.
Says the mega wealthy white south african
Maybe young white men with reading comprehension issues thought that.
You shouldnt feel guilty for being white, you should feel guilty for being a horrible person
Poor elon, someone should help him realize his fears.
The only guilt I have is the thought that im considered white and their for apart of the same race as these nitwits.
I don’t believe for a second that Elon has ever felt a shred of guilt for anything, no matter how much he should have.even
They shouldn't feel guilty over what their ancestors may or may not have done. They should feel guilty about what they are doing now.
Rightwing humor is always dishonest.
acknowledging the privilege that comes with being white ≠ feeling guilty for being white
This is the correct way to think. I recognize that I’ve benefitted from generational wealth that may not have been available to me if I weren’t white; that doesn’t mean I did anything wrong or that I should feel bad about myself for something I didn’t choose
they want everyone to respect their HERITAGE, which they don't even take accountability for, but act like they shouldn't have to even CONSIDER their ancestor's past and learn from the mistakes of the past. absolutely braindead group of idjuts
Why is that picture mostly young women.
Bragging points in their eyes with how they "convinced" young white women to vote against their best interests.
They love teenage girls.
Wild hearing this from a white South African man.
But they are the problem. Not as individuals. But as a social group who holds the majority of the power. Of whom the majority, even if not actively causing harm, allows the space for those who do enact harm to enact the harm.
If 5% of white men are bad, it only takes non action from the majority if the remainder for these select few to topple and harm and do horrible things to maintain power and control.
Not being guilty doesn't mean you are good
White people who complain about white guilt feel the most guilty.
“14 year olds on Tumblr (who haven’t read theory) were mean to me on the internet. I must establish an authoritarian regime to punish them”
All of those women look like trump just grabbed ‘em by the pu$$y.
More hot takes from the 'Obama started racism' crowd.
I'm also annoyed I can't tell if the image is AI.
The only people who worry about white guilt are racist white people.
Musk’s parents directly benefited from apartheid…
The only people who get offended by this concept are genuine racists who don't like the blowback from being racist. It has nothing to do with being white and everything to do with their rejection of non whites.
Also hilarious considering this is being reposted by a guy whose entire empire is built upon profiting from Apartheid South Africa.
“White colonizers and white power figures have done quite a lot of damage to society”
“So you hate every single individual white person in the entire world?”
Nah that’s a whole new sentence
This is just making the statement you are a racist and ok with racism without having the balls to just make that statement openly.
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This was never a real thing.
I'm a cis white male millennial and have never once been told I'm the problem. Weird...
I think the capitalization is important. I also see people do this with words like Men.
I would take self-awareness over guilt.
Guilt is fucking pointless unless it leads to looking at the systemic issues and then trying to, you know, fix them.
But that is hard for them coz, you know, "What's in it for me (a white person) because I've got my privilege that I did nothing to earn/deserve and really shouldn't be forced to give that up. I feel so persecuted".
The kind of people who aren’t ashamed of what they ancestors did are the sort who would absolutely jump at the chance to do it themselves if they got it. Either right now or through hypothetical time travel.
Genz? This kids look 19-12. Gen z is like 15 minimum rn